The Moderating Effect of Perceived Risk on Consumers' Evaluations of Product Incongruity: Preference for the Norm

Research supports the existence of a "moderate incongruity effect" such that an option that is moderately inconsistent with an evoked product category schema is sometimes preferred to a congruent option. We propose that perceived risk is an important situational factor that moderates the impact of congruity on evaluations. Three studies show that the positive evaluation of moderately incongruent products, relative to congruent ones, does not appear when there is risk associated with product selection. When consumers perceive high risk associated with a purchase, the moderate incongruity effect is reversed such that the congruent is preferred to the moderately incongruent product. Only in conditions where subjects perceived no real risk did the positive effect of moderate incongruity appear. The limiting effect of perceived risk appears to be due to consumers' "preferences for the norm" under high-risk conditions. The set of findings are discussed as they relate to and extend current thinking about the effects of moderate incongruity on evaluations. Copyright 2001 by the University of Chicago.